I think what's more likely is that some legislator wanted to pass a bill that would have effectively dismantled their business, and they lobbied hard to change the bill's wording so that they could continue to employ people and provide tax revenue to their state. Without a citiation of exactly what the hell the OP is talking about, though, speculation is relatively pointless.
Here you go.
http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2010/Chapter311
As interpreted, change so much as a wheel on your 67 Healey and it becomes a 2012 kit car Healey after they give you the privelege of going to one of the 4 inspection stations in the state and paying the fees. What is even more fun is that there are no definitions of what will push your car over the limit? Custom wheels, tires of a different size? New non factory paint?
What this does is haul the rest of the car hobby up to the same level of due diligence that kit cars have to pass. Fair to the kit car industry? Maybe, but was it done in a sly way so that buyers will be less enticed to build their own specialty car and just buy the kit? Restomods of any classic would be a nightmare according to this set of rules. Don't build a MGB V8, buy a kit since your car will be tagged as one anyways!
Thanks for giving us a link.
That wording looks like the SEMA-drafted law that was passed in 2010. On the whole, it's probably a good thing for anybody who doesn't daily drive their custom.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a version of SEMA model legislation to create a vehicle registration classification for street rods, custom vehicles, replicas and specially constructed vehicles. “After 5-years of working with the legislature on various iterations of this bill, we are extremely grateful to State Representative Carolyn Dykema, in addition to Representative Brian Dempsey,; Representative Joseph Wagner, Representative Charles Murphy and Senator Steven Baddour and their staffs for taking it over the last hurdle,” said SEMA VP of Government Affairs, Steve McDonald. The new law defines a street rod as an altered vehicle manufactured before 1949 and a custom as an altered vehicle at least 25 years old and manufactured after 1948.; Replica vehicles are defined as being assembled by a non-manufacturer from new or used parts that replicate an earlier year, make and model vehicle.; Specially constructed vehicles are those reconstructed or assembled by a non-manufacturer from new or used parts that have an exterior that does not replicate or resemble any other manufactured vehicle.; Replica vehicles will be assigned a certificate of title bearing both the year in which the vehicle was built and the make, model and year of the vehicle intended to be replicated.; Read more: http://blogs.hotrod.com/massachusetts-signs-into-law-sema-model-hobby-car-registration-and-titling-bill-358.html#ixzz1rTCCedOa
My guess is that if Factory Five backed this, they did it to protect their existing customers.
I'll admit that the emmissions test is less than ideal for a hobbiest....
Under the new law, street rods and custom vehicles are exempted from emissions inspection requirements.; In a compromise made with the state air quality regulators, the measure also provides that specially constructed and replica vehicles which are registered on or before April 30, 2012 will be exempted from emissions inspection requirements.; Specially constructed and replica vehicles registered after April 30, 2012 will be subject to emission control requirements based on the model year and configuration of the engine installed, whether the engine is an original equipment manufacturer’s production engine, rebuilt engine or crate engine. Read more: http://blogs.hotrod.com/massachusetts-signs-into-law-sema-model-hobby-car-registration-and-titling-bill-358.html#ixzz1rTCV1Qg4
....but even that may not be the end of the world. It looks like a computer test, not a sniffer test. Even then, some cars are exempt from much of the test. This might prevent some engine swaps, but it will probably increase the number of oddball swaps in MA. Anybody want to swap in a post 1997 volvo or a hyundai genesis plant? They appear to be free from the bulk of the test. (see last link)
I know this is probably completely wrong BUT the first thing that came to mind was that FF had to do battle with Shelby a while back and this is a way to further protect there business ensuring them more revenue. Why am I thinking that they just took a page out of the Shelby legal teams play book and applied it to there business model.
Ya completely wrong and I really admire that FF has done for the kit car industry. But my mind can not help connect the dots.
FWIW, I finally found a FF forum thread about this...from back in 2010.
http://www.ffcars.com/forums/24-northeast-region/239065-massachusetts-emissions-bill.html
My guess is that the MA legislature took the SEMA bill, gutted it of some of the hobbiest-friendly language, and passed THAT version. It looks like the easy route is to keep all the emmissions equipment from your donor and put it onto the kit as you build.
What is with all of this emissions BS anyways? Industrial applications put out WAAAY more smog than cars ever did, and yet the politicos still harp on vehicles. Yes, let's kill custom cars (the couple million of them) cause THAT will solve our smog problems.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
ValuePack wrote:Toyman01 wrote: Easier yet, get the hell out of the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts.This. Due to some pressing family health issues, I think my family and I will be crossing the border to No Man's Land somewhat permanently this summer. I've resisted my entire life... so much for cheap car insurance and my second amendment rights.
Hopefully you are heading South and not North. I am not interested in paying any more for my health premiums, and if you take more out of the system than you put in, the population pays the balance in the form of taxes or some other fee structure. Canada is broke as well. The Conservatives just pushed the age to receive a state pension back 2 years to 67.
MA emissions test is an OBD-II scan, not a sniffer, and not that stupid dyno thing anymore. In fact the cutoff for emissions testing is 1996 or newer. No coincidence that this corresponds to OBD-II cars.
So if you're worried, take that '36 Ford replica, put in an early 90s Mustang 5.0 motor, and in theory you should be all set.
bearmtnmartin wrote: Canada is broke as well. The Conservatives just pushed the age to receive a state pension back 2 years to 67.
Hardly. A system that was set up decades ago when people were expected to be dead by the time they were 73 in 1970 is now up to 80. Something's gotta give. Either fund it more, or have less people draw on it.
But let's not flounder this thread, shall we? 
So is it too late to change the title of this thread?
Canada is broke as well. The Conservatives just pushed the age to receive a state pension back 2 years to 67.
To me, this is proof everything's working as designed. People are healthier. They live longer. They can be productive longer. Win Win Win.
Here is just one of the links I found today.
http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?2,2033734
It gives several other links. Law went into effect in the last few days. No more hotrods or altered classics from the looks of things. If you have a hotrod, you have to surrender your VIN and apply to Mass for a new state issued VIN.
So, panties are getting in a wad over essentially this paragraph?
legalese “Custom vehicle”, a motor vehicle for which the year of manufacture is after 1948, for which the model year is at least 25 years old and that has been altered from the manufacturer’s original design or has a body constructed, in whole or in part, from non-original materials.
Really, I'm supposed to be afraid that some schmuck is going to notice that I put a different steering wheel on my MGA, when nine times out of ten when the same people go to test my Miata on rollers, they try to put the fronts on the rollers?
Seriously?
There's a very important legal distinction between "shall" and "may". The shall's seem to be all "for" us, indicating that the state will in fact be required to register our cars. The "mays" seem to be out there to limit craziness, like saying the state will issue a VIN if it's not clear what the original VIN might be.
A lot of what's going on here is for new registrations. If you register a stock(ish) MGA for the first time in MA, it looks like you still get antique/historic plates. If it's weird enough to raise eyebrows, it might get registered as a "custom" with the manufacturer stated as "MG" and the model as "custom", with a description that states it was once an MGA. You still get your emissions waiver...
I fail to see the need for histrionics here...
The only gotchas seem to be that if you build a replica, or specially-constructed vehicle (doesn't look like anything else), then they base the emissions requirements (and airbags) on the donor year.
I'm actually interested in how the 818 is going to get around the airbag requirement. That seems like a sticking point.
But really, is it that terrible to expect that if you rip the guts out of a modern car to power your Cobra-replica, you keep the emissions equipment? It's what, a pair of cats? I love cars, love screwing around, but damn. I once had a commute where I'd frequently come across some crusty Camaro with no cats and a crap tune. I could smell it a mile before I passed it. Do we really have to be that insensitive to those around us, including the critters and plants?
In reply to peter: I understand the desire to keep the "emissions levels" of the donor engine, but keeping all the "original emissions equipment" is another thing entirely that adds another giant level of complexity to an engine swap.
A HAMB thread on it
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=683620&page=6
Hopefully you are heading South and not North. I am not interested in paying any more for my health premiums, and if you take more out of the system than you put in, the population pays the balance in the form of taxes or some other fee structure. Canada is broke as well. The Conservatives just pushed the age to receive a state pension back 2 years to 67.
Shhhhh! That's logical and will offend many on this list.
carguy123 wrote:Hopefully you are heading South and not North. I am not interested in paying any more for my health premiums, and if you take more out of the system than you put in, the population pays the balance in the form of taxes or some other fee structure. Canada is broke as well. The Conservatives just pushed the age to receive a state pension back 2 years to 67.Shhhhh! That's logical and will offend many on this list.
I know it's off topic, but FYI, that's not what they did at all. It's the old age supplement that was changed, not the pension, and I bet no Canadian on here would ever get that anyway.
Now back to your topic.
HiTempguy wrote: What is with all of this emissions BS anyways? Industrial applications put out WAAAY more smog than cars ever did, and yet the politicos still harp on vehicles. Yes, let's kill custom cars (the couple million of them) cause THAT will solve our smog problems. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
One hundred factories spewing a million tons of pollutant is way less harder to control than a hundred million cars producing a ton annually. You didn't know that?
Me again...
Sorry if I deliberately kicked this hornetrs nest and stired up some controversy. I seem to do that on occasion.
If you could go back far enough, you should read the E36 M3 y'all gave me in 2005 when I said GM was headed down the tubes!
Same sE36 M3 going down now. SEMA and its members are in a bind; The money hungry mental midgets who run our state govenments are being romanced by the new car lobby to kill all hobby car based activities. It is simply not in their interest to have us prolong the life of a car.
Not wanting to be the losers in this war, SEMA and the Kit car community have found a more vulneralbe target for the govenment that will satisfy their needs. The kit car industry and SEMA create a substantial number of jobs. By tossing the creative (defenseless) individual under the bus, (that would be you and me) the politicians can look like they are satysfying the new car overlords, while at the same time supporting the second tier industry of aftermarket manufactures.
Easy way to think of this is that we are "Collateral Damamge" as the US gov likes to say.
If it looks like I picked FF as a target for this outburst, it is because they chose to be the leaing face of the great "Victory" for the hobby when in fact it sold a substantial number of individuals down the river to pay for their political favours.
peter wrote: But really, is it that terrible to expect that if you rip the guts out of a modern car to power your Cobra-replica, you keep the emissions equipment? It's what, a pair of cats? I love cars, love screwing around, but damn. I once had a commute where I'd frequently come across some crusty Camaro with no cats and a crap tune. I could smell it a mile before I passed it. Do we really have to be that insensitive to those around us, including the critters and plants?
so putting a cat converter on an out of tune engine is suddenly going to make it run clean?
so why have you guys sat around for two years instead of lobbying from the moment it was passed
JoeyM wrote: so why have you guys sat around for two years instead of lobbying from the moment it was passed
Because with cash flowing into the gov's right pocket from the New Car lobby and money going into the left pocket fromt the Aftermarket Lobby, we could not get a dollar in edgewise. Or is that enough dollars.
Regardless, people who think that their vote or input to the government of this country has any use, are living a fantasy.
I wonder if it is really going to be used against the "Tuner" crowd and not the customs or hotrods.
dean1484 wrote: I wonder if it is really going to be used against the "Tuner" crowd and not the customs or hotrods.
legalese “Custom vehicle”, a motor vehicle for which the year of manufacture is after 1948, for which the model year is at least 25 years old and that has been altered from the manufacturer’s original design or has a body constructed, in whole or in part, from non-original materials.
Combine the above prose with the reality that this is all being left to the subjective opinion of the test station individual, and you have a mess on your hands. It can mean anything that person wants it to mean on that day and unique situation. If the person does not like red cars with metalflake (and who does?) and finds out that the car has been re-painted red, he COULD yank the tittle since the manufacturer did not "Design" it that way. Custom wheels most certainly fall under this heading and so do exhaust and turbos. Hell, what does NOT?
And let me ask you, if given the chance to screw you, has the government EVER passed on the opportunity? I am still struggling to see how SEMA likes any of these words?
NOHOME wrote: Combine the above prose with the reality that this is all being left to the subjective opinion of the test station individual, and you have a mess on your hands. It can mean anything that person wants it to mean on that day and unique situation.
This is what we call a "bribe situation". Failing a successful result one can move to stage two - the "offer of imminent violence". Creating a one-or-the-other reality for the person will usually result in them taking the one that comes in an envelope. Get a pic if you can so it is cheaper next time. 
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